Prediction and Control of Weld Width of Deep Drawing Steel Laser Tailored Blanks

The weld width of laser welding not only affects the tailor welded blank forming properties, but also leads to fracture failure to a great extent during the stamping process. In order to optimize the weld process and ensure laser welded tailored blanks (LWTBs) forming properties, the weld width should be predicted and controlled. Firstly, the transient temperature field distributions are simulated by means of the finite element software. Then the weld widths are calculated based on the analysis of test plate temperature distribution. Additionally, weld width prediction model is put forward by means of Partial least squares (PLS). And the forecasting relative error of weld width is below 5%. Then it can be concluded that the proposed model is reasonable and applicable.